Not infrequently one reads stories about babies accidentally switched at birth, but they do not always have a happy ending like this one from Brazil.

Dinas Aliprandi, now 25, often wondered as he grew up why he did not resemble his four sisters, who showed their Italian bloodline. His own features suggested German forbears. At 14 a TV programme about babies switched at birth made him want to have a DNA test, but thanks to the cost this did not happen for another 10 years.

After getting over the initial shock, his parents agreed to help him find his birth parents. They did. They found Elton Plaster, who was born on the same day in the same hospital, and his parents, who all agreed to do DNA tests.

And here is the happy ending, taking place in a farming community in south-eastern Brazil:

The discovery did not cause any upset, he said. "Instead it sparked a desire to join our families," Aliprandi said.

"Elton and I wanted to remain with those who raised us and with our birth parents. We wanted to expand our families."

So about a year ago, the Aliprandis accepted an offer from the Plasters to move to their farm, where they built a home.

Aliprandi says he and Plaster both feel blessed by their new circumstances. "It's not everyone who can say he has two fathers and two mothers living with him."

Perhaps that sort of ending is only possible in a rural setting. Maybe Latin American family feeling has something to do with it. Anyway, it's a very nice story, don't you think?